Cultivating New-Type Professional Farmers to Boost Modern Agricultural Development

At the end of 2013, the Central Rural Work Conference made an overall plan for the cultivation of new-type professional farmers, and 2014 became a breakthrough year for this work. Amid widespread public concern over “who will farm the land and how to farm it well” in rural areas in the future, farmer education and training work has moved proactively forward, targeting mainly large specialized households, family farm operators, the backbone members of farmer cooperatives and agricultural successors, vigorously cultivating new-type professional farmers, and exploring the establishment of a “three-in-one” new-type professional farmer cultivation system integrating education and training, certification and management, and policy support.

First, the new-type professional farmer cultivation project was launched and implemented. With the support of the Ministry of Finance, the central government arranged 1.1 billion yuan in subsidy funds to launch and implement the new-type professional farmer cultivation project, selecting 2 entire provinces, 14 entire cities and 300 demonstration counties nationwide to carry out key demonstration cultivation, establishing and improving the training system, and driving nationwide cultivation work through demonstration. Second, farmers with secondary or higher vocational education qualifications were vigorously trained. To meet the needs of modern agricultural production and operation, the Ministry of Agriculture, together with the Ministry of Education, issued the "Implementation Plan for the Cultivation of New-Type Professional Farmers in Secondary Vocational Schools," making institutional arrangements for farmers engaged in farming to receive secondary and higher vocational education, and safeguarding farmers' right to receive agriculture-related vocational education. Third, farmer education and training mechanisms and models were explored and innovated. Cultivation targets were selected around leading and distinctive advantageous industries, focusing on new-type agricultural production and operation entities, mainly production-and-operation-type professional farmers; greater emphasis was placed on the application of information technology, using cloud computing and big data technologies to achieve online training, mobile internet services, online technical consulting and follow-up management and assessment for cultivated farmers. Fourth, the conditions and capacity for farmer education and training were strengthened. The construction of a multi-level, wide-coverage new-type professional farmer education and training system was accelerated, the integrated construction of air classrooms, field classrooms, mobile classrooms and the smart farmer cloud platform was advanced, the "Ministry of Agriculture New-Type Professional Farmer Mobile Classroom" construction project was implemented, and the supporting capacity for education and training was continuously strengthened.

At the same time, localities also strengthened guidance, increased investment, expanded the coverage of pilot demonstrations, explored and innovated work systems and mechanisms, and tilted relevant policies for strengthening agriculture, benefiting farmers and enriching farmers toward new-type professional farmers. A new-type professional farmer workforce that is educated, skilled and business-savvy is rapidly taking shape. In 2014, the professional farmers cultivated in just the two provinces of Shaanxi and Shanxi, which advanced the work as a whole, exceeded 100,000. According to preliminary statistics, the number of new-type professional farmers of various types cultivated nationwide is currently expected to exceed 1 million, and more and more new-type professional farmers are propping up the vast blue sky of modern agriculture.